My 29 Day Organizational SUCCESS!!

Mission Accomplished!! I have been following along with OrgJunkie's 29 day organizational challenge for the past month and finally have the before and after photos to show the drastic change in my space! 

1. What space did you decide to organize and why?
We all have a place in our house that gets filled up with "stuff."  For us, that catch-all room is where our dvds, craft supplies and books/photo albums are stored. It is also the space where random items get shoved until they find a new home.  It was in a complete state of chaos.  This challenge gave me the motivation to make a change.

 

Before                              After

2. What steps did you take to ensure you completed the space within the 29 day timeline?
To make sure I could complete this task in 29 days, I needed a plan.  First, you can't enter the contest until you get a blog - so I started GingerBabyMama.  Then I went old school - got out a pen, paper and calendar.  I checked the calendar to try to find some hours in the month to dedicate to the project.  Then I used pen and paper to map out the space, the furniture and storage options I have and can use in the space.  Then I buckled down and got to it!

            

Corner of the Room               Bookshelf that was moved

                                            from the other corner

3. What was the hardest part of the challenge for you and how did you overcome it?
The hardest part of the plan was making the time to lock myself in the windowless room while not completely ignoring the kids.  After a long day of working and mommying it's tough to want to clean/purge/organize.

4. What did you do with the “stuff” you were able to purge out of your newly organized space?
I managed to get rid of three BIG boxes of books, craft supplies and random crap that was stored in the space.  I also purged a huge hutch, a file cabinet and a small shelf.  The furniture found new homes with my mom and sister.  The rest filled up the trunk of the station wagon and off to the VV Boutique!

            

DVD and board games before and after!! 

5. Tell me one of your proudest moments during this challenge?
For me, the proudest moment of this whole journey was my mom saying she was impressed and that the space looks great.  Her house is always spotless and she doesn't craft, so she saw the space as completely insane.  When she was impressed with the improvement, my heart soared!

6. Explain any organizing “tools” you used to help you create additional space and to establish some limits and boundaries?
I didn't buy any containers/furniture for this space.  I repurposed existing containers and made my own labels with cardstock that I had on hand.  I used baskets and bins to corral like items. 

7. What is ONE piece of advice you’d give to someone else to encourage them on their organizational journey?
The best piece of advice I can give someone wanting to start organizing a space I read on a fantastic minimalist blog - Zen Habits - Start with one space, one shelf, one item and go from there.  Unless of course you want to sort/purge/organize your whole house - in that case, use the PROCESS and organize everything in 52 weeks! It worked on my house!

Here are the links to my progress on this journey:

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/before.html

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/progress-but-still-long-way-to-go.html

http://gingerbabymama.blogspot.com/2012/02/were-almost-there.html

Thanks so much for OrgJunkie's 29 Day Organizational Challenge - it's a great motivator and now I have this fun blog to fill my time and challenge me some more AND I have an organized craft space!